caller: good morning, steve and mona. it's time to stop carrying the water for the white house. with the rebels in damascus, isn't it too late? if you try chemical weapons in his own city, it's going to be worse for him, don't you think? host: is referring to a story that is on politico.com in what a lot of reporters are talking about the inauguration. guest: it's important to underscore the likelihood of assaad using chemical weapons may be quite low because it would, in fact, essentially be a suicide mission given the response it would detract from the international community. that being said, given the arsenal he has a and concerns about chaos in the country, it is a contingency that needs to be planned for. that is why i think we are seeing what we are. president obama's statement, and others after him, were motivated by u.s. intelligence reporting that suggested there was movement and potentially the mixing of precursors of some of these chemical weapons on site. there is concern about what could be happening and whether what they could be preparing. host: off of twitter. g